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Friday, March 29, 2024 - 09:37 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Please contact your U.S. representative and senators TODAY and remind them that Congress writes our laws, not the Supreme Court!

On June 15, in Bostock v. Clayton County, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that sex discrimination in the 1964 Civil Rights Act includes “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” discrimination. With this ruling, the Court overstepped its proper constitutional role and effectively rewrote a 55-year-old statute -- a job which should have been left to Congress. This decision has also opened up a Pandora’s box of religious liberty problems in our country for years to come.

Compounding this bad ruling is the fact that Justice Gorsuch (who was supposed to be a textualist and originalist) wrote the opinion, and Chief Justice Roberts joined him and the four more traditionally liberal justices to re-write this half century-old law.

As Justice Alito said in his dissent (which was joined by Justice Thomas): “There is only one word for what the Court has done today: legislation.”

Some members of Congress have responded to the Bostock decision by calling it “the law of the land.” But this is simply untrue -- Congress writes our laws, not the Supreme Court!

When a court -- even the Supreme Court -- misinterprets a statute, as it did here (as opposed to the Constitution), not only is it not “the law of the land,” but it is fully within the power of Congress to correct the Court’s error by enacting a new law. In fact, Congress has done so on several occasions.

Thankfully, we still have some strong leaders like Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) who have spoken out against this unjust decision and the religious freedom problems it will cause for our nation.

If Congress doesn’t act now, the Supreme Court’s rewrite of the Civil Rights Act could have grave implications, including:

  • Religious employers being compelled to “employ individuals whose conduct flouts the tenets of the organization’s faith [which] forces the group to communicate an objectionable message.”
  • Transgender-identified individuals being able to violate the privacy of women and demand to use the bathroom and locker room of their choice.
  • Women athletes being forced to compete against athletes who are biologically male.
  • Employers being forced to cover treatments and surgeries that are not medically necessary and, for religious employers, are in opposition to their faith tenets.

Please contact your representative and senators today. Tell them Congress MUST respond to the Supreme Court’s erroneous interpretation of the law, protect religious liberty, and preserve the power of Congress, not the Court, to write federal laws.

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Travis Weber is Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs - Family Research Council

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